page_title: Battle of Nirim
section_title: Aftermath and reactions
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Nirim / Aftermath and reactions
caption_attribution_description: English: independence war memorial in old nirim (dangur)in the negev, israel אנדרטת נירים הישנה (דנגור) בנגב
context_page_description: The Battle of Nirim, was a military engagement between the Egyptian army and the Jewish Haganah on May 15, 1948, the first day of the Egyptian invasion of Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was fought in kibbutz Nirim, founded just two years earlier as part of the 11 points in the Negev. The Egyptian 6th Battalion attacked about 40 Israeli defenders at dawn on May 15, backed by armored vehicles, mortars, cannons and aircraft. They failed to take the village and retreated about 7 hours later, leaving behind about 30–35 dead.
context_section_description: Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle, including the regional commander and one woman, Rivka Salzman, a Holocaust survivor. The Egyptians killed in action were about 30–35, and according to Israeli estimates, about 40% of them died of friendly fire. All of the buildings of Nirim were wholly or partially destroyed. The seven Israelis were buried in a common grave outside the village by reinforcements that came after the battle.
  The Cairo Radio declared that the kibbutz had been captured, and the Egyptians returned to their base for a victory parade. In fact, Nirim remained in constant Israeli control until the end of the war. The Egyptian army took the time to reorganize (additionally hurt by a defeat at Kfar Darom) and attacked kibbutz Yad Mordechai four days later.
  The Israelis began restoring the damaged trenches and fortifications in Nirim, expecting another attack shortly, and the next morning it indeed appeared as if the Egyptians were going to attack again, creating a smoke screen in front of the village. However, the attack did not come. Because of the intermittent shelling, in the days following the battle the residents of Nirim were forced to continue living underground and faced numerous related hardships. Elisha Kali, a kibbutz member, invented a mirror-based contraption that provided light to the bunkers by automatically moving two mirrors so that they always reflected sunlight.
  Haim Bar Lev later said that the battle of Nirim decided the outcome of the war, because if 45 lightly armed Israeli soldiers could stand against great odds, all of Israel could withstand the war. On the Egyptian side, Gamal Abdel Nasser commented that "I felt that the dead left behind at Dangour symbolized the battalion's [lack of] faith in the cause for which it was fighting".
  A monument to the fallen at Nirim is located on the site of the village. It incorporates two symbols of the battle: the Safety House and the sign that had been hanged in the dining hall two weeks earlier in the May Day celebrations, reading "Not the tank will prevail, but the man".
caption: The monument at the battle site
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